Nintendo NX use of cartridges hinted at by US Trademark System

It appears this Nintendo NX using cartridges rumor has some serious legs now that this trademark has been discovered.

15

There’s still a lot we don’t know about the Nintendo NX, such as what it’ll look like and what kind of experience Nintendo plans on delivering to gamers once it’s released. One rumor for the Nintendo NX that continues to pop up is its possible use of physical media, but today, those rumor flames have been fanned once again.

NeoGAF member Atheerios found some interesting documents while browsing the US trademark system. Trademarks for Wii U and 3DS games make mention of game discs and cartridges, respectively, but when browsing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s listing, something interesting popped up. Both “video game discs” and “video game cartridges” show up in the Good and Services section of the filing.

We know Nintendo will release both a Wii U and NX version of the game at the same time. While we know the Wii U is a disc-based console, this leads us to believe there may be some legitimacy to previous rumors of the NX using physical media, such as a game cartridge.

Considering trademark listings for the Wii U and 3DS make mention of their media type, seeing Breath of the Wild’s trademark list both a game disc and game cartridge shouldn’t be considered a mistake on Nintendo’s part.

As of now, Nintendo has yet to disclose much regarding the Nintendo NX. Hopefully we’ll hear more about the upcoming console in the near future, and if it’ll return to the use of game cartridges.

[Img via Ink Whiskey]

Senior Editor
From The Chatty
  • reply
    June 23, 2016 7:48 AM

    Daniel Perez posted a new article, Nintendo NX use of cartridges hinted at by US Trademark System

    • reply
      June 23, 2016 8:46 AM

      I'm all for going back to carts. Fuck scratched disks.

      • reply
        June 23, 2016 8:54 AM

        I am still 100% convinced that the NX isn't just a console that it is a platform. Where you have an AMD x86 console (probably around the PS4 NEO in power). And a separate handheld system. That share the same library and the handheld can be used as a controller/streaming device for the console.

        So at home you have the same functionality as the WiiU controller where you can play games without the TV on in high fidelity. But as you leave the house you can still play your games at a lower resolution/fidelity. I would expect the handheld to be a bit more powerful than the WiiU.

        So cartridges would make sense.

        • reply
          June 23, 2016 9:06 AM

          That would be cool. Then the handheld could either read the carts or could have enough onboard memory to download like 2-3 games from the main console.

          Reading the carts would probably make the most sense. Not only would it make the handheld cheaper, but it would make it more user friendly and viable as a stand alone system.

          • reply
            June 23, 2016 9:10 AM

            It is Nintendo so they won't pay for memory it will have a cartridge slot. Like 32GB on onboard memory and an SD Card slot.

            • reply
              June 23, 2016 9:33 AM

              That's consistent with other patents.

      • reply
        June 23, 2016 9:00 AM

        After my loss of Mario Kart 8 to disc damage I can't even find, I agree.

        Hadn't had a problem in... I don't even remember how long, but losing MK8 suuuuucked.

      • reply
        June 23, 2016 2:26 PM

        I haven't had to deal with scratched discs since the dreamcast days, because back then I was in high school and didn't take care of my shit.

        • reply
          June 23, 2016 2:45 PM

          Kids. I have kids. Kids break things.

          • reply
            June 23, 2016 4:30 PM

            Ahh yeah, that's true, and this is a Nintendo console so that is a big factor.

    • reply
      June 23, 2016 9:02 AM

      If we're talking SD cards then that's cool. If it's some crazy proprietary cartridge that costs $99 then fuck that.

      • reply
        June 23, 2016 9:04 AM

        I'm assuming Nintendo would go cheap considering their track record with console production costs.

      • reply
        June 23, 2016 9:07 AM

        Presumably they would be using similar solid state ROM tech as the 3DS cartridges.

        The foundry Macronix also recently had a die shrink which would allow double the density. Doubling in the same form would put them at only 16GB so I imagine the NX would use larger cards than the 3DS. Aside from the fact that they wouldn't want them to be confused.

      • reply
        June 23, 2016 9:34 AM

        They'll probably be cheap because of the expected order volume of whatever hardware they target. But Nintendo will do what they can to block piracy.

      • reply
        June 23, 2016 9:37 AM

        that would be suicide. they won't use anything that adds much extra cost to the process.

        read-only, flash memory is inexpensive, even moreso if you have nintendo's buying power.

        • reply
          June 23, 2016 12:55 PM

          I am trying to find the article but there was an article a couple months ago that was basically Macronix saying their new 64GB ROM chips could be manufactured at close to Blu-Ray costs.

      • reply
        June 23, 2016 2:25 PM

        I was thinking SD cards as well or something similar to what Nintendo offers with the 3DS.

      • reply
        June 23, 2016 4:39 PM

        I don't think you could make a cartridge cost $100 if you tried. Flash memory is cheap these days.

    • reply
      June 23, 2016 9:36 AM

      Bring back the dark ages. NX will probably require a cave to be played in.

      (Surely they will have digital equivalents available for download?)

      • reply
        June 23, 2016 11:55 AM

        Seeing as they've had everything day one digital for a long time now, probably. Even more so since they probably make more on digital purchases.

    • reply
      June 23, 2016 11:17 AM

      It's probably for a DS version, cartridge/sd card...

    • reply
      June 23, 2016 2:09 PM

      The potential to have future updates go right to the cartridge itself is something that would be terrific.

      • reply
        June 23, 2016 2:42 PM

        That might depend on the tech used. Posts above are talking about ROM chips, which I assume must be cheaper.

        They could do updates to system storage, but then they'd have to be very careful about the size of them.

    • reply
      June 23, 2016 2:38 PM

      Something similar to a 3DS cart I bet.

Hello, Meet Lola